Grov Søndre

Hjem
Norge
Hovin
Grov Søndre

Spaces to slow down, reconnect with nature, and find perspective through simple living and time outdoors.

04/06/2026

5 years ago I bought a farm in Hovin i Tinn, Telemark. I had no idea what I was doing.

I still don't, but I am getting better each day.

Grov Søndre Gård has been teaching me things I never expected to learn: how to read nature, how to fix what is broken, how to slow down and how important help is from this brilliant local community. I came from a world of meetings and screens. The farm does not give a s**t about any of that. It just needs things done.

There is always work to be done. There is firewood to process, forest to manage, and renovation projects that will still need to be done once I depart from mother earth. My dog Zen supervises most of it and has seen me both cry and laugh at my incompetence.

I bought this place in June 2021. Born in South Africa, Dutch parents, lived in Norway since 2006 — and somewhere along the way I became a farmer. Sort of.

Still standing. Still learning. Still here.

🌲 Hovin i Tinn

29/04/2026

Hovin i Telemark is steeped in history. More posts on that to come 🙂

This is Mæle bridge. Built in 1896 in Hovin i Telemark, a five minute car ride from Grov Søndre farm. A wee bit slower on horse and cart.

It is an incredible bit of engineering. No mortar. No metal rods. Nothing holding it together except precisely placed stones and the skill of the people who built it. A life-size jigsaw puzzle that has stood the test of time , 130 years and counting.
The total cost to build it? 6,798 kroner. And it served as the main road through Hovin until 1939.

The longest dry laid stone arch bridge in Telemark. And one of the most quietly extraordinary things I have seen since moving here. Oh the view towards Blefjell and Sandvatn is not too shabby either.

🌿 Hovin i Telemark

28/04/2026

Meet Jolla. A Ferguson from 1958. Is she not an absolute beaut?

I have always dreamed of a Porsche 911, but life on Sud Grov farm has a way of changing your priorities. Turns out there is nothing quite like taking it nice and slowly.

When I took over Grov Søndre in June 2021 she worked for the summer. Then she gave up on me. Last year I decided to get her fixed, my neighbour, who has a gift for bringing old machinery back to life, fixed her up.

This evening I took her out of the garage after a cold winter and she started first time. A little rusty. 67 years old. An absolute blast to drive. It feels like you are flying.

And here is food for thought, is there anything more environmentally friendly than a machine that has already been running for 67 years and still refuses to quit? No new parts. No new factory. No new emissions from manufacturing. Just an awesome tractor that was built to last. 🚜♻️

26/04/2026

I'm a fire starter, twisted fire starter."🔥
Everyone recognises those lyrics from the Prodigy classic. And for some reason, this song always pops into the mind when the firepit at the farm is blazing.

Just an old concrete ring found in the forest at Grov Søndre. Simple.

Stare into those mesmerising flames long enough and something ancient stirs. The primal brain. The part of you that is 200,000 years old. The part that has kept human beings alive through ice ages, predators and darkness.

Fire means safety. Fire means survival. Fire means we made it through another night.

That feeling is always there for us to access. We have just forgotten where it came from.

30/03/2026

It is not all work at Grov Søndre farm, sometimes we like to play too :)

The farm has some beautiful instruments, including an acoustic guitar that has recently been restrung, and this stunning piano which is over 100 years old. For years I had been dreaming of hearing the piano played.

It turns out my friend Neil, who comes from the Isle of Barra in Scotland, was the man to make that happen. Neil also happens to play the accordion. He sat down at this old untuned piano and gave it a real proper go. And what a go it was!

The piano has a character all of its own. Untuned and full of age, it sounds somewhere between a concert hall and a Wild West saloon bar, and somehow that made it even better. Neil made it work beautifully.

He kept on playing, and I just stood there in awe and full of gratitude. One of those simple moments that reminds you why this place is so special.

Thank you, Neil. 🎹🤠

11/12/2025

A few weeks ago, Claude Belanger Claude came up to Grov Søndre farm and spent a Saturday helping me prep for winter. Snow chains on the tractor, wood processing, good conversation — the kind of day that fills the tank in more ways than one.

I know Claude through Seol, a personal development and leadership program for men. One thing I’ve noticed over the years: men love working with wood. The rhythm, the focus, the silence — and yes, the unspoken competition about who’s swinging the biggest piece of Norwegian birch ;)

My equipment here is old skool. Slow, stubborn, charming, a bit like me before my morning coffee. But it gets the job done: 2,000 litres processed in a couple of hours, and a big axe for those days where frustration needs somewhere healthy to go.

And here’s the fascinating bit: researchers in Austria and the US found that chopping wood spikes testosterone by 30–40% — often more than heavy lifting in the gym. Men’s testosterone levels have been falling for the last 40–50 years, but real physical work with meaning, purpose and a hint of survival switches something primal back on.

So… who wants to raise their testosterone the old-fashioned way?

In 2026 I will be creating a weekend workshop at the farm — a space for men who want to reconnect with themselves, find their centre again, and yes, increase their woodage. It will be part work, part brotherhood, part wild medicine.

Ping me if you want to get some wood on and be part of this. Choppy choppy!

Adresse

Hovin
3652

Telefon

+4740604376

Nettsted

https://grovsondre.no/

Varslinger

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